Charles Mengin

Charles Mengin studied at Beaux-Arts de Paris. The recorded working language is French. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Works named in the authority record are Rêverie. Work by Charles Mengin is recorded in the collections of Manchester Art Gallery and Musée d'Orsay.

Mengin was born on 5 July 1853 in Paris to Auguste Charles Victor Mengin, a sculptor who died in 1894 in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. He was educated in both painting and sculpture by Gecker, Alexandre Cabanel, Paul Baudry, and sculptor Aimé Millet, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Mengin mainly painted mythical scenes and portraits. He owes his place in art history mainly to his painting Sappho (1877), which can be seen in the Manchester Art Gallery. Sappho is one of the paintings presented by Umberto Eco in his book The History of Beauty as exemplary of 'romantic beauty'.

He first exhibited in 1876 at the Paris Salon together with his twin brother, Paul Eugène Mengin (1853-1937). He continued his exhibitions at salons of the Société des Artistes Français until 1927. He won a gold medal at the 1900 World's Fair.

Mengin died in Paris in 1933.

• Illustration — Portrait of Émile Peynot, 1886

Charles Mengin is recorded as painter and sculptor.